Food Obsessive Me
Laura brought up her favorite aspect of France/French lifestyle in a comment: their way of eating and enjoying food. I SO agree with her, and I decided my full response to her comments should be an entry all on its own.
My mom was the stay at home mom for all four of us. If I had to think of the biggest gift my mom ever gave me, it was to LIVE life, or to die trying. She laughed loud and often. She bounced from one activity to the next. Something awful would happen, and you would think she should fall apart, but she'd concentrate that she still had one Godiva chocolate truffle left, and that was enough joy to cover all the evil in her life... Anyway, part of my mom's zest for life is her love of good food. I know it comes from her own background. Her parents were both immigrants, and food was essential to their cultures and lifestyles. It started long before she had children.
My poor mom married a good ol' Kentucky boy. My father is brilliant and kind, but his culinary exploits were rather limited. He tells me he was a teen before he even tried pizza. What the hell? My mom would make an elaborate Julia Child chocolate mousse, set it in front of my dad, and he'd munch on it quietly, then say, "Well, that was pretty good for chocolate pudding." I'm surprised she didn't kill him.
She had a bit more control over her four children's tastebuds, and so she raised all four of us to love food with a passion. Here's how it worked in our household: every day brought a new baked goody. Homemade cookies, cakes, brownies, pies...you name it. We never ate store bought cookies or desserts because my mom was always making these delicious ones from scratch. My mom was always the person that was asked to bring dessert to the pot lucks or whatnot that we attended.
We didn't have leftovers typically either, but that was mostly due to the presence of my two older brothers. So, every night we had a new meal...from scratch. I don't recall her ever using a mix for anything when I was growing up. Ever. My mom liked to experiment with foods, so we ate ethnically all over the place. I remember when my brother's fiance lived with us for a few months, she called up her mother and wailed, "It's like eating in a different country every night!" haha! Well, but that was normal for us. Normal for her was standard Polish faire, night in and night out. We did polish. We just also did mexican, chinese, italian, german, french, and cuban too.
I was eight when I started cooking too. I began with breakfast food items (crepes, pancakes, french toast) and also chocolate chip cookies. Within two years, I could cook more foods than most adults could. It was like that with ALL of us. My mom gave us all a thirst for good food that never disappeared. In fact, I was very amused after Alex had been around my family for a while and he remarked, "I had no idea Americans typically made food from scratch for all their meals!" HAHA! I said, no honey....that's just us. My brothers are both excellent cooks, and even though their wives cook too, they will happily take over that kitchen after a 60 hour work week. My sister is an exact duplicate of my mom with the desserts: every single day, a new goody. MMMMMM. And of course, needless to say, I love my food too, as those of you who know me or know me through this blog have already found out.
Family meals were the highlight of the day. Dinner was the only time of the day when we were all gathered together since we all were interested in so many different activities. We laughed, we ate good food, we teased, we ate more food...some of our meals DID go on for hours. In that way, I suppose, I was well-trained for a Frenchman one day.
My ex loved good food, but he loved to eat it FAST. It disgusted him if we went out to eat and it took longer than an hour. I have a few American eating buddies who understand the value of a wonderful, long, delicious meal. But on the whole, that's not a part of our culture. We have probably ten times as many restaurants as the French do. They only have two fast food chains that I know of, and they are hard to find. French, do fast food? It's as Laura says:
ca ne se fait. They just don't do it. They just don't understand it.
Meals are to be savored in France. A three hour dinner is common. The food has courses, yes. I love cheese too much and was scolded a few times in France when I wanted the fromage to come FIRST instead of after the main course...haha! Oh, and for the record, if you want to confuse a Frenchman, call the main course the entree. It's THEIR damned word and we misuse it....the entree would be more like an appetizer, NOT the main course.
Meals are typically served with wine. Gotta love that. My family was fairly big on wine for special occasions or maybe a couple of times a month with dinner, so I was raised with more wine/food pairings ideas than most Americans. It flatters me that my French boyfriend has, at times, allowed ME to be the one to taste the wine at the restaurant because he is comfortable with my knowledge of wine. I'm trying to learn more, though, because there's so much FUN to be had with wine and food pairings...and food is life!
I stopped drinking for a while when the ex went crazy with his drinking. I am betting Laura understands that. Since I left, however, I really savor that glass of wine here and there, and an occasional glass of port or brandy (those are the alcohols I genuinely adore for taste). It's great to be dating a man who likes alcohol, but is not an alcoholic. My liquor cabinet isn't drained when Alex visits...haha! But seriously, alcohol can accentuate the meal you have prepared. For instance, try a nice glass of ruby port with anything dark chocolatey...mmmmm!
It's hard to have a beautiful three hour meal when you have two small children. Yes, chicken nuggets are a staple meal here because that's easy and the kids will eat it. Jared has my adventurous desire to taste new foods, but Ariana is a PILL. I can't get her to try new foods. She eats like ten things in the world and won't touch the rest. My sister keeps telling me she'll grow out of it. I can't wait. I just don't get it: so much good food, and she won't even touch it??? Je ne comprehends pas! However, Alex and I can savor our meals when the ex has the kids. I have a few other good friends who enjoy this, but it's not a typical American deal. Most folks are like the ex: good food, great, but please give it to me in an hour or less.
I remember the first night Alex was in the US. After I picked him up at the airport and we were driving the two hour trek back home, we decided to stop for dinner. He was astounded not only at the copious number of restaurants, but that many of these restaurants repeated themselves (IE, are chains). They do smaller restaurants there, individually run. It was a Friday night, and so of course at 7p, all the restaurants are packed coming out of Charlotte. I pulled over to an Applebee's and we got on the wait list. As we sat outside and waited, he told me seriously that he didn't understand the wait list thing. He said, you have reservations or you just show up, but if they are full, you go to the next restaurant because....those who have tables will be there for three hours. It's a damn long wait! haha!
Since I'm fully addressing the food issue, I thought I'd mention that my love of life and enjoyment of life is so tied up in eating that I can't diet. Right now I'm aware that I can't afford new clothes yet I'm at the max end of my wardrobe capacity, but I won't diet. I'd rather slit my wrists. I've dieted before, and all that succeeds in doing is making me miserable and, hence, those around me miserable. I can't stand low fat products or nasty tasting low cal products. My tastebuds NEED more. The end. If I gain weight from it, so be it.
Sometimes I gain weight through no fault of my own. Being on the pill makes me gain weight; when I was on zoloft, I gained weight. But what am I going to do, get pregnant? Talk about weight gain! And when I was on that damned zoloft, BOY did I freaking need it. Being a few pounds overweight is far superior to being dead, in my humble opinion. If I deprive myself of chocolate, cheese, butter, etc....I might as well be back on zoloft! It's all wrapped up in ME, thanks to how I was raised. FOOD IS LIFE!
That being said, Laura, if you are ever in the Raleigh/Durham area visiting your friends, let me know. I go up there a few times a year to visit my brother (it's a four and a half hour drive from my house), and we can go savor a nice, long, delicious three hour meal together, ok? You are SO right! That love of food, that enjoyment of it, that reverence of it....that's the thing the French do best! I suppose it's part of why Alex and I work...and his "frenchness" that way is why he fits in with MY family, too!
My mom was the stay at home mom for all four of us. If I had to think of the biggest gift my mom ever gave me, it was to LIVE life, or to die trying. She laughed loud and often. She bounced from one activity to the next. Something awful would happen, and you would think she should fall apart, but she'd concentrate that she still had one Godiva chocolate truffle left, and that was enough joy to cover all the evil in her life... Anyway, part of my mom's zest for life is her love of good food. I know it comes from her own background. Her parents were both immigrants, and food was essential to their cultures and lifestyles. It started long before she had children.
My poor mom married a good ol' Kentucky boy. My father is brilliant and kind, but his culinary exploits were rather limited. He tells me he was a teen before he even tried pizza. What the hell? My mom would make an elaborate Julia Child chocolate mousse, set it in front of my dad, and he'd munch on it quietly, then say, "Well, that was pretty good for chocolate pudding." I'm surprised she didn't kill him.
She had a bit more control over her four children's tastebuds, and so she raised all four of us to love food with a passion. Here's how it worked in our household: every day brought a new baked goody. Homemade cookies, cakes, brownies, pies...you name it. We never ate store bought cookies or desserts because my mom was always making these delicious ones from scratch. My mom was always the person that was asked to bring dessert to the pot lucks or whatnot that we attended.
We didn't have leftovers typically either, but that was mostly due to the presence of my two older brothers. So, every night we had a new meal...from scratch. I don't recall her ever using a mix for anything when I was growing up. Ever. My mom liked to experiment with foods, so we ate ethnically all over the place. I remember when my brother's fiance lived with us for a few months, she called up her mother and wailed, "It's like eating in a different country every night!" haha! Well, but that was normal for us. Normal for her was standard Polish faire, night in and night out. We did polish. We just also did mexican, chinese, italian, german, french, and cuban too.
I was eight when I started cooking too. I began with breakfast food items (crepes, pancakes, french toast) and also chocolate chip cookies. Within two years, I could cook more foods than most adults could. It was like that with ALL of us. My mom gave us all a thirst for good food that never disappeared. In fact, I was very amused after Alex had been around my family for a while and he remarked, "I had no idea Americans typically made food from scratch for all their meals!" HAHA! I said, no honey....that's just us. My brothers are both excellent cooks, and even though their wives cook too, they will happily take over that kitchen after a 60 hour work week. My sister is an exact duplicate of my mom with the desserts: every single day, a new goody. MMMMMM. And of course, needless to say, I love my food too, as those of you who know me or know me through this blog have already found out.
Family meals were the highlight of the day. Dinner was the only time of the day when we were all gathered together since we all were interested in so many different activities. We laughed, we ate good food, we teased, we ate more food...some of our meals DID go on for hours. In that way, I suppose, I was well-trained for a Frenchman one day.
My ex loved good food, but he loved to eat it FAST. It disgusted him if we went out to eat and it took longer than an hour. I have a few American eating buddies who understand the value of a wonderful, long, delicious meal. But on the whole, that's not a part of our culture. We have probably ten times as many restaurants as the French do. They only have two fast food chains that I know of, and they are hard to find. French, do fast food? It's as Laura says:
ca ne se fait. They just don't do it. They just don't understand it.
Meals are to be savored in France. A three hour dinner is common. The food has courses, yes. I love cheese too much and was scolded a few times in France when I wanted the fromage to come FIRST instead of after the main course...haha! Oh, and for the record, if you want to confuse a Frenchman, call the main course the entree. It's THEIR damned word and we misuse it....the entree would be more like an appetizer, NOT the main course.
Meals are typically served with wine. Gotta love that. My family was fairly big on wine for special occasions or maybe a couple of times a month with dinner, so I was raised with more wine/food pairings ideas than most Americans. It flatters me that my French boyfriend has, at times, allowed ME to be the one to taste the wine at the restaurant because he is comfortable with my knowledge of wine. I'm trying to learn more, though, because there's so much FUN to be had with wine and food pairings...and food is life!
I stopped drinking for a while when the ex went crazy with his drinking. I am betting Laura understands that. Since I left, however, I really savor that glass of wine here and there, and an occasional glass of port or brandy (those are the alcohols I genuinely adore for taste). It's great to be dating a man who likes alcohol, but is not an alcoholic. My liquor cabinet isn't drained when Alex visits...haha! But seriously, alcohol can accentuate the meal you have prepared. For instance, try a nice glass of ruby port with anything dark chocolatey...mmmmm!
It's hard to have a beautiful three hour meal when you have two small children. Yes, chicken nuggets are a staple meal here because that's easy and the kids will eat it. Jared has my adventurous desire to taste new foods, but Ariana is a PILL. I can't get her to try new foods. She eats like ten things in the world and won't touch the rest. My sister keeps telling me she'll grow out of it. I can't wait. I just don't get it: so much good food, and she won't even touch it??? Je ne comprehends pas! However, Alex and I can savor our meals when the ex has the kids. I have a few other good friends who enjoy this, but it's not a typical American deal. Most folks are like the ex: good food, great, but please give it to me in an hour or less.
I remember the first night Alex was in the US. After I picked him up at the airport and we were driving the two hour trek back home, we decided to stop for dinner. He was astounded not only at the copious number of restaurants, but that many of these restaurants repeated themselves (IE, are chains). They do smaller restaurants there, individually run. It was a Friday night, and so of course at 7p, all the restaurants are packed coming out of Charlotte. I pulled over to an Applebee's and we got on the wait list. As we sat outside and waited, he told me seriously that he didn't understand the wait list thing. He said, you have reservations or you just show up, but if they are full, you go to the next restaurant because....those who have tables will be there for three hours. It's a damn long wait! haha!
Since I'm fully addressing the food issue, I thought I'd mention that my love of life and enjoyment of life is so tied up in eating that I can't diet. Right now I'm aware that I can't afford new clothes yet I'm at the max end of my wardrobe capacity, but I won't diet. I'd rather slit my wrists. I've dieted before, and all that succeeds in doing is making me miserable and, hence, those around me miserable. I can't stand low fat products or nasty tasting low cal products. My tastebuds NEED more. The end. If I gain weight from it, so be it.
Sometimes I gain weight through no fault of my own. Being on the pill makes me gain weight; when I was on zoloft, I gained weight. But what am I going to do, get pregnant? Talk about weight gain! And when I was on that damned zoloft, BOY did I freaking need it. Being a few pounds overweight is far superior to being dead, in my humble opinion. If I deprive myself of chocolate, cheese, butter, etc....I might as well be back on zoloft! It's all wrapped up in ME, thanks to how I was raised. FOOD IS LIFE!
That being said, Laura, if you are ever in the Raleigh/Durham area visiting your friends, let me know. I go up there a few times a year to visit my brother (it's a four and a half hour drive from my house), and we can go savor a nice, long, delicious three hour meal together, ok? You are SO right! That love of food, that enjoyment of it, that reverence of it....that's the thing the French do best! I suppose it's part of why Alex and I work...and his "frenchness" that way is why he fits in with MY family, too!
posted by Kira | 6:38 AM
6 Comments:
Kira...I think we are good friends who just haven't met yet!
I went on Zoloft after having #2 and experienced the joy of gaining weight ON TOP of my pregnancy weight! In December, I was around 220. When I saw that number on the scale, I freaked, called my doctor and changed meds!!! I've lost some, and hope to keep losing without any effort. Zoloft did a GREAT job of helping my depression. Too bad it made me enormous!
Like you, though, I can't stand dieting. The idea of being hungry for months sends me into a panic. I think that right now, I'd be happy if I could get at or around 180. An ideal weight would be 160. At 160, I'm hot stuff. When I was 21 and working for the airlines, I dieted down to 138 and looked emaciated. I'll never see that number on the scale again unless I get cancer (God forbid).
If YOU are ever in the Kansas City area, I'll invite you over to my sister and brother-in-law's house. (I can only offer chicken nuggets and PB&Js at the moment) Those two can COOK!!!
In about five more years, I think I'll be able to find the time to cook again, too!!!
Wine + food = heaven
Hmmm... visiting Raleigh or Durham? I wonder who else lives there... hmmm....
BTW, where the hell are all these women who like sitting at table for 3-hour meals? I think I know like 3.
Laura,
Yeah, zoloft worked great for me too! I lost probably 10 lbs right away when I went off it. Then I went on the birth control pill a few months later, and boom, it all came back ;)
Egads, you're tall iirc from your blog, so 138 is...anorexic looking. Sort of like when I went down to 99 lbs when they started me on the paxil. I looked like an ethopian child. Paxil and I didn't mesh at all...so they put me instead on the zoloft, which worked but made me gain and gain and gain. Ok, for the record though, my body is curvy, so even at 99 lbs I had a huge ass. Stick figure. Skeleton. Gaunt. With a huge ass.
Hmm I don't know anybody in Kansas at all, but if I have a reason to be there, I'll look you up for sure!
Amanda--yeah! That's it. When the food memories start so intensely, so young, it just becomes a total part of you. I didn't learn to make grits until I was in my 20's, though. It's not a Florida dish, and so there was no need to fix it until I moved to SC ;)
Joe--smart ass! LOL yes, I have owed you a visit for years and years. Besides, you told me if I brought up my nice knives, you'd sharpen them for me :) Bonus!
I know of myself...now Laura...and I have HAD a three hour meal with Amanda before (at a mexican restaurant hehe)...Lee (who lives in Tampa)...and I know Angie can do a nice three hour meal too. Madella (also in Tampa) loves long meals. Oh, and Shana would in a heartbeat. You met Shana, right Joe? The guy list for me is a lot shorter (american guys, duh).
You've seen my mug, right?
http://ogunquitmaine.net/tm214.jpg
Shit! I need to get that mug for my dad for Christmas...haha! That's great :)
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